Hella 500 Electrical Woes

[KellyJ]

I just found why my Hella 500's weren't working, after sanding down the grounds, re-doing all the wire connections, etc etc etc, I find out that it's the friggin fuse that was blown. Replaced the fuse and bingo - one of the 500's lit right up. But not the other one. Wtf? Tried swapping the bulbs, and both are good. Grounds are in identical places on the brace funning in front of the radiator. I re-did the connection yet again and still nothing. Any ideas as to what could be wrong?

 

[LINY4Runner]

is the realy okay?

Is it one of those relays with a left and a right blade or do both lights power off one wire with a T?

 

[KellyJ]

is the realy okay?

Is it one of those relays with a left and a right blade or do both lights power off one wire with a T?

The relay works still, I hear it go on/off with the interior switch. There is one black wire that runs from the relay which splits to a T to go to each light housing

 

[LINY4Runner]

The relay works still, I hear it go on/off with the interior switch. There is one black wire that runs from the relay which splits to a T to go to each light housing

hmm...thats odd...try switching the harnesses on the lights....plug the L harness into the R light and vice versa...see if the "light out" stays or changes sides

 

[KellyJ]

No dice... Found that they were incorrectly grounded/connected on the inside of the housing (black was going to ground instead of plugging into the bulb, and the blue wire running from the ground was plugged into the bulb, poor quality control...) So I switched them back to how they should have been, but still only one light lights up

 

[LINY4Runner]

No dice... Found that they were incorrectly grounded/connected on the inside of the housing (black was going to ground instead of plugging into the bulb, and the blue wire running from the ground was plugged into the bulb, poor quality control...) So I switched them back to how they should have been, but still only one light lights up

did you swap the harness? did the light out change sides or stay?

 

[KellyJ]

Found the problem, crappy ground where it was bolted to the frame of the truck (salt/rust on bolt) I can finally see again at night:guitar3:

 

[inshore4runner]

i ran my ground wire right into the bolt that adjusts the up and down movement of the light. works great... yea that whole blue-negative black-positive thing screwed with me

 

[KellyJ]

i ran my ground wire right into the bolt that adjusts the up and down movement of the light. works great... yea that whole blue-negative black-positive thing screwed with me

Huh, never thought of that... thought it had to be grounded to the frame - I guess you learn something new every day. I might have to try that, since the ground wires are pretty taut how they are connected now.